1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to a non-aqueous battery using lithium, as an active material, and more particularly to an improvement of a positive electrode material used in a non-aqueous battery.
2. Description of the prior art
MoO.sub.3, V.sub.2 O.sub.5, lithium-manganese composite oxide, MoS.sub.2 and LiNiO.sub.2 have been suggested as a positive electrode material in a non-aqueous battery, and some have been used in practice. A positive LiNiO.sub.2 electrode generates about 3.7 V with a lithium negative electrode and it has a high discharge voltage. This yields a high energy density batteries, and therefore, LiNiO.sub.2 is one of the most useful materials for the positive electrode. To produce LiNiO.sub.2 using conventional methods, the lithium hydroxide (LiOH-H.sub.2 O) and nickel oxide (NiO) are prepared and mixed in equal mole amounts, and the resulting mixture is heat-treated under one atmosphere pressure at 700.degree. C. for about 4 hours. U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,080 describes this method. However, LiNiO.sub.2 obtained by this conventional method generally has a small discharge capacity.